Smudger wrote:.....it's the private sector that has to generate the cash to pay for it, so why should they lose out ?

...Through taxes. If the private sector stopped spending some of the "cash" they generate on tax lawyers and actually paid a fair share of tax the funding of the public sector would be more assured but that isn't what the Tories want and neither is it likely to get them any votes.

We are being asked to swallow the neoliberal lies and excuses for austerity based on "reducing the deficit" (oxymoronically "at all costs"). The simplistic analogy that national/international economics is just like household budgeting is just not true. When we want to give our nurses and firemen and policemen more the 1% it's impossible to find the funds but if it's the (private sector) banks in a bit of bother then we can "quantitavely ease" our way to injecting a few billion here and there or just plain stump up a bribe where the DUP is concerned.

Austerity is not even close to being an "economic necessity". It is a political choice being made by those who can afford to ignore its dire effects on others.

When I worked in the NHS and for the Royal College of Nursing - I had responsibility for typing up the massive report on Nurses Pay to the Pay Review Body (I did this four years on the trot). Within the Public Sector it seemed unfair to me that Nurses (generally in the main women) were never, ever awarded what was proven in a statistically accurate report what they were due and worth but the Police and Fire Brigade (mainly men) got a better deal and sometimes above it. I am not in favour of capping the Public Sector... its been proven it makes diddly squat of difference. I think enough is enough.. nurses, ambulance crews all deserve a better pay rise, and can we please stop this percentage malarkey... 1% of nothing is nothing.. lets talk hundreds, thousands of pounds raise each ... much more sensible.. 1% of £50,000 is a nice raise.. of £15,000 is a pittance !

Drama Queen wrote: I think enough is enough.. nurses, ambulance crews all deserve a better pay rise, and can we please stop this percentage malarkey... 1% of nothing is nothing.. lets talk hundreds, thousands of pounds raise each ... much more sensible.. 1% of £50,000 is a nice raise.. of £15,000 is a pittance !

Like.

(Note to Admin. Why aren't we allowed to just "like" posts. I'm too lazy to log in and write all the time....)

"Within the Public Sector it seemed unfair to me that Nurses (generally in the main women) were never, ever awarded what was proven in a statistically accurate report what they were due and worth but the Police and Fire Brigade (mainly men) got a better deal and sometimes above it"

The men will of course be working 5 years longer before they retire - thought I'd mention it

Smudger wrote:I would wager that Darcy works in the public sector.Or maybe doesn't work at all - so as not to imply support of the oppressive system

Not that it's necessarily anyone's business but that is a bet you have lost. Darcy is a wage slave in the private sector but still appreciative of the fact he is not a nurse or a social worker and values the work of the police and fire services. Do not assume anyone remotely critical of current "let's steal everything" economics is a Marxist. I work in the private sector and pay my full share of tax and just get a bit hacked off when they are siphoned off to the personal wealth of Theresa's mates..

From a personal point of view Mark Prisk wrote a letter of recommendation for Hidden Hertford which was almost essential to gain funding from National Lottery. I think this chunk of the overall total went towards the river cruises, new leaflets for the Museum and support for Farmers Market at the Horticultural Show at the Castle. He came down to Hertford and led the river blockade against Government cuts to British Waterways. I know he made a speech and was cabin boy on our trips along the river that day. He was happy to turn up at a Town Watch breakfast meeting and if I am right was on his way next to the Mercury to ask them to start writing more positively about Hertford. Small examples but I know he was trying to help the local cause in even a small way.

All this masks a problem which I have mentioned before. There is no opposition in Hertford. Wait for a by election, Council election or anything. No party or organisation mounts any sort of campaign about anything. I have discussed this with politicians and have come to the conclusion that everyone in this District is happy with things as they are. Otherwise they would either be organising themselves, mounting a campaign or badgering their local MP to take up their cause. Do you see anything like this happen. I don't. All political campaigns are based on national issues.

I am not saying Mark Prisk is a wonderful local MP or an active campaigner but he can only respond to what his constituents ask him to do or sort out on their behalf. Therefore everything in the garden is rosy. I can travel up the down staircase and blow in the wind but I am not part of any political party and I know what happens to anyone who steps out of the party line.